Actually, I seem to be more active and ambitious now than I was 15 years ago. I was moderatelly active until I retired but, then, my wife and I took some time to build our house and accessory buildings. This occupied both of us nearly full time for several years. Then I got back at it with renewed enthusiasm. There have, however, been a few rocks in the road.

As I have noted in other posts, I was injured in a bike/drunk-hit-and-run-driver accident about a year ago. I was on the bicycle. It has taken some time for me to recover from than. And, my wife underwent a double lung transplant procedure last September. Both of these events kept me from getting out at all in 2010. I am now back from my injuries as much as I expect that I will be and my wife is a new woman now that she can breathe again. So, I am busy making plans.

So far this year, I have done three overnights in the local mountains. One one-night and two, two night trips. I am off to the Chisos Mountains in west Texas next week and then the Grand Canyon's Boucher Trail. I have a trip planned for the Sangre De Christo mountains in June, several shorter trips for July then a 100 mile section of the PCT in August. I also hope to get a fall permit for the Grand Canyon. I also hope to re-hike the JMT in 2013. All of this is, of course, contingent on my health remaining good but things look good so far.

I am in my mid-70's now and hope to be still getting out, less ambitiously probably, into my 80's. I still try to plan on 8-10 miles per day or less; it depends on how much uphill there is. So far I don't seem to mind long drives to get to my favorite area, the Sierra. The price of gas may change that.